


Pick Her Up

by rinskiroo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Canon Universe, Established Relationship, F/M, Minor Angst, POV Poe Dameron, Poe is not amused, mostly it's fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 09:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15139832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinskiroo/pseuds/rinskiroo
Summary: While hiding out on some random planet, Rey finds a new friend.  Poe is not amused.





	Pick Her Up

Poe Dameron is not what anyone would call a “good influence”.  Not at six, when he’d convinced the other kids that the handful of mystery jelly beans (mostly the booger flavored ones) was worth just as much as a chocolate ewok.  Not at thirteen, when he and his friends took a joyride in his father’s speeder that ended in the local constable’s office.  Not at twenty, when he’d led the extended post-graduation celebration that resulted in several of his classmates missing their transports off world to their new assignments.  Not at thirty, when he’d defied a direct order to chase a First Order fighter and defected to the Resistance with his entire squadron.

He is a ~~great~~ exceptional pilot, inspiring leader, decent enough cook, but should anyone, let alone small children, be taking this man’s advice?  Hard no.

“No!”  That is exactly what he says when Rey finds the source of the strange, gurgley-sounding whimpers.

Rey looks back at him from where she’s crouched down behind piles of trash tucked on the side of a building.  Her face is one of shock and horror—which is a good reaction because _why are you touching the gross, dirty, crying thing, Rey???_  Poe realizes quickly that the look is for _him_.

“Poe!” she snaps at him, but quietly because despite now holding a crying, quivering mass of rags, they are actually trying to not attract the attention of the legions of stormtroopers that have recently arrived on this planet.  “It’s a baby!  We can’t just leave it here!”

“Why not?  Someone else did!”

“Dameron!”

He didn’t—he doesn’t really mean that.  Obviously, someone should help this child.  He doesn’t know, or care, about the circumstances that have led to its abandonment, but they have stacks and stacks of their own problems.  Namely that Rey, Poe, Finn, and Leia are tied for the #1 bounty in the galaxy.  Beyond that, none of them, except probably Leia, know what to do with a baby.  They’ll need things like diapers and milk and blankets and—they do not have _time_ for this.

Poe’s sputtering, his brain blanking on what they could do that isn’t leaving an infant in a dirty alley surrounded by garbage, and also isn’t taking it back to the abandoned day spa they are currently squatting in.  The First Order, obviously working on some tip that the Resistance is hiding out on this planet, has taken over local law enforcement so they can’t just go to the authorities.

He watches her, smiling and trying to soothe this little thing, and thinks it can’t possibly be that cute.  Especially not wrapped in a bunch of filthy rags.  Rey’s cute though, with the way she carefully holds the squirming, messy bundle, terrified that she’ll drop and break it.  He sighs.

She stops; the warm glow on her face fades away as she looks at him.  No longer just annoyed with him—there’s something else.  He barely gets the question out of his mouth before she shoves the small, wrapped, fleshy object into his arms.

“Shh,” she hums and Poe feels a familiar warmth surrounding them and the gentle reverberation in the air.

His instinct is to fight—to reach for his blaster and put himself in between Rey and whatever is coming for them.  But he’s learned to spread out the heroics and that Rey’s subtle use of the Force is often enough to get them out of a tough spot.  And being the one now holding the squirming bundle means he can’t reach for his weapon and instead turns away from the front side of the alley.

One of Rey’s arms settles around his shoulders and she huddles close to them; her head bows slightly and rests against his shoulder.  The hand not around him reaches in front of them, her wrist rotating slightly.  She manipulates the energy around them, somehow.  Poe doesn’t understand it, but can feel it happening.  The bubble surrounds them, creating a pocket of illusion.

Poe’s seen her practice this before.  Once, she’d made a pair of trousers left on the floor look like snakes.  She had laughed and said it probably only worked on him because he was still half asleep.  It would only work on the weak-minded, or those not paying enough attention.

He hopes the squad of stormtroopers patrolling the street behind them isn’t paying enough attention.

Beside him, Rey’s taking slow, even breaths and it reminds him to breathe.  His shoulders are tense, waiting for the hammer to fall and the ruse to be up.  It’s several long, slow-moving minutes before he feels her arms relax.  She moves slightly and presses her forehead against his.  For a second, she stills.  He knows she’s trying to find a quiet place in the Force to regain her strength.  Poe would give her all that he has, if he could.

“Back to that other problem,” Poe says quietly as he looks down at the creature still in his arms.

A chubby arm has worked its way out of the strips of dirty cloth.  Fat little digits open and close, trying to reach for something to grab onto.  Poe offers it his finger, which it immediately tries to drag between its gums.

“Ew, no, don’t do that,” he says with a look of disgust.  “You don’t know where that’s been.”

He feels her body shake slightly as she snickers.  “Come on,” she says, pushing them through the other side of the alleyway.  “It’s not safe here.”

It’s not safe anywhere, not really.  They came to this small planet to hide out and try and gather strength, but it’s already gone downhill.  And now there’s _this_ on top of all of _that_.

“You were supposed to bring back information about why the First Order is here.”  The first person they encounter after they squeeze through the broken door on the side of the former day spa is Finn.  Rey is holding the bundle again, bouncing it lightly in her arms.  It only takes a few seconds before Finn’s surprise turns into cooing.

Poe can’t believe he’s lost Finn, too.

“We should give her a bath,” Rey tells Finn.  “And she’s probably hungry.”

“And diapers and clean clothes,” Finn adds.  He smiles and wiggles his fingers, creating giggles from the mess of rags.  “Once you get all nice and clean.”

“It’s a girl?” Poe asks, stunned.  Well, it has to be something, he supposes.  But it’s another step on getting too attached to something that doesn’t belong to them.  They’ll probably want to name ~~it~~ her next.

Leia comes in and gives them a _look_ as she notices the flailing arms being held by Finn.  She glances down at the non-existent chronometer on her wrist and looks back at Poe quizzically.  “How long were you two out, exactly?”

“Not nine months,” Poe grumbles.

It’s not that he doesn’t want kids, someday, way off in the future.  Hell, maybe even with Rey if she wants to keep him around that long.  _Right now_ , they’re in the midst of being hunted and their once safe haven is now infested with First Order troopers.  Instead of their very real problems, everyone is tickling and fawning over something they found on the street.

“ _She_ should be with her mother,” Poe says.  He looks at Rey as he emphasizes not calling the baby an “it”.  See, he cares.

Rey’s face falls like a wounded animal, like he’s just said something wrong and hurtful.  It’s not like her to be overly sensitive, but she turns away from him and goes back to quietly playing with the baby.

“We will try and find her,” Leia says, reassuringly.  “Right now we should keep her safe and happy.  The most important thing,” Leia’s voice catches slightly, but she recovers quickly, “is that she knows she is loved.”

Rey doesn’t look at him when she and Finn take the baby and leave.  There are still plenty of crates of fancy soaps and luxury towels leftover in this place.  The infant will come out smelling like a million credits and Poe’s sure they’ll figure out how to make a little baby outfit out of one of the many robes and pajamas.  Kid’s lucky, Poe thinks, that Rey found her.

“Dameron,” Leia calls to him, pulling him away from watching Rey leave.  “Some of the other scouts are back.  Why don’t we see if we can figure out what’s going on.”

As it turns out, the First Order isn’t on the planet for them.  This world has a large tydirium deposit under its north sea.  The extraction of which has been entirely automated.  Recently, revolutionaries seized the operation and declared the planet free of their remote masters.  The First Order, reeling from the losses at Crait, has sent a contingent of troopers to put down the insurrection and restart operations at the sea mine.  They are desperately trying to hold on to anything they have left.

“It still won’t be good for us if they find us here,” Poe says.

“No, of course not.  And it would make things worse for the locals if the First Order thought they were harboring the Resistance.”

“So, we take them out,” Poe says with his usual confidence.  He hears Leia sigh, then holds up his hand.  “Wait—I have a better idea.”

The next time he sees Rey is in the room they’ve been sharing late in the evening.  Poe’s not sure if they’ve both just been busy with their own things, or if she’s been purposely avoiding him.  Surprise, surprise—she’s got the little parasite with her.  There’s an empty bottle on the table next to the bed and Rey has the baby propped over her shoulder, tapping her on the back.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” Poe asks.  He’s not _trying_ to be derisive, but they’re all very aware of his feelings about the extra person in their luxury bunker.

“Leia showed me,” she says shortly.

She’s upset with him, obviously.  And Poe knows he’s been less than charitable about this situation.  He sighs.  “Look, obviously we couldn't leave ~~it~~ her on the street.  I know that.  But there have to be other options than—“

He stops talking at the look she’s giving him.  Rey narrows her eyes, brows crimp together, like she’s _daring_ him to keep digging that hole.  There’s a long, awkward pause, interrupted only by wet belches.

Poe looks around the small room and notes the fresh blankets and stack of cloth cut down into diapering size.  Rey’s fully taken over baby duty and the bed that was already a bit too small for two people is now apparently supposed to hold three.

“I don’t want to squish you two,” he says as he grabs one of the extra blankets and heads out of the room.

“Jealousy’s not a good look on you, Dameron,” Rey says as he leaves.

Poe lies uncomfortably across a bench in what used to be a lobby.  The rooms with usable furniture are all occupied, and his pride won’t let him wander around until he can find a better place to sleep.  So he kicks off his boots and with the blanket twisted annoyingly around his legs, tries to find the least agonizing position to try and get some rest.

He can’t sleep, of course.  A few times, he slips away, but the hard plastic poking into his back pulls him harshly back to reality.  It’s the soft padding of feet pacing the halls that keeps him from making too much of an attempt to sleep.  The sound isn’t coming from the pair of sentries sitting near the door—Poe can hear them faintly talking and laughing in the other direction.

And then there’s humming.  Rey—he knows it’s her—occasionally whispering a word he can’t interpret.  He catches sight of her and hears the babe whimpering from inside a fluffy towel.  Poe swallows back whatever annoyances he has—they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  Certainly don’t matter when the woman he cares about looks so exhausted and unsure.

“I can’t get her to stop crying,” Rey says quietly as Poe walks up to her.  “I did everything Leia said, but every time I put her down, she starts screaming.”

“Why don’t—”  It almost physically hurts to say it.  But really, he’ll do anything for Rey.  She brings a light into his life he never realized was missing.  “—I take her, and you can go lie down.”

Rey raises one incredulous eyebrow at him.  “But you don’t…”  Her words trail off.  Maybe she doesn’t want to accuse him of not liking babies, or not understanding them, or not wanting them, but in her exhausted state, can’t find the words.

“This is important to you,” Poe tells her.  “So it’s important to me.”

“Do you know why, Poe?” she asks, earnest and nearly pleading, like she’s begging him to understand.

He gives her a long look and reaches up to tuck several unkempt strands of hair back behind her ears.  “Yeah, I think I do.”

“No one picked me up—”

“Shh,” he soothes, putting his arms around her and pressing his lips to her forehead, trying to stop the sob he can hear bubbling up in her throat.  “I know.  I’m sorry.”

Almost reluctantly, Rey carefully passes the squirming infant into his arms.  Poe notices for the first time that the baby has a full head of springy, red curls.  Now that she’s clean, he sees the triangular markings on her skin, similar to the humanoid species inhabiting this planet.  These little things, like the twin, white, tiny teeth poking out of her bottom gum hit him and make him realize that she’s a tiny person.  She looks at him with big, hazel eyes, and grins.

It would take some heartless individual to not smile back at something so adorable.  And Poe is anything but heartless.  He laughs and wiggles his large nose against her small one, making her giggle.

Back in their room, Poe rocks the baby in his arms while Rey curls up on the mattress.  She watches him as he paces the floor and Poe sings, or at least tries to.  There’s a lullaby his mother would sing, and he can barely remember the words.  It’s something about the moon and the stars, and riding the hyperlanes home.  Not that the baby cares that he can’t remember the words, but Poe thinks he’ll contact his father soon and ask if he recalls how it went.

When he glances back at the bed, Rey’s eyes are closed and her body has lost all that tense wakefulness.  Poe smiles to himself and dims the lights.  He doesn't lie on the bed; doesn’t want to wake her.  Instead, he sits on the floor, leaning up against the bed, babe swaddled and sleeping in his arms.  He doesn’t dare put her down, because Rey’s right—somehow she knows she’s no longer being held and that is _not_ acceptable.

It’s only slightly more comfortable than the lobby bench, but the atmosphere is better.

When he wakes up, his neck is screaming at having been cocked to the side all night.  He reaches up and rubs—Poe’s whole body jolts and he realizes his arms are empty.  He’s in his usual room, so the entire night hadn’t been a dream, but where—

“Hey,” Rey says as she pushes the door open.  “Gonna sleep all day?  It’s almost show time.”

Poe wipes his hand over his face.  Maybe the entire baby ordeal was a dream.  “Where’s—?”

“With Nana Leia,” Rey says with a grin.

In their makeshift command ops, the giggling baby girl is being bounced in Leia’s arms.  Poe realizes that despite the impending dangerous mission, their small band is a little less sullen.  A bit less seeing the end of the line and a bit more hope in the future.  He’s not really sure if one little lost kid can do all that, but it’s hard to argue with the smiles she creates.

Poe may have been the late riser, but Rey’s the last one of the building when they finally set off.  “You give Nana the number of where we’ll be, just in case?”

Rey pushes him lightly as she walks past and he can see the color filling her cheeks.  “Don’t try to play gruff soldier with me, Dameron.  I know you.”

Something about the way she says it sends tingles down his spine.  He tries to tell himself it’s the remnants of that crick in his neck, but he knows it’s because the Force-blessed Jakku scavenger has dug a nice little hole into his heart and found all of his secrets.

They’re not enough to retake the planet—bust in and mow down stormtroopers and plant a Resistance flag.  The smarter, less showy plan is to assist the citizens already trying to take back their planet.  Kaydel and Rose easily trace the old comm signals they’re using.  They’re a jumpy sort, naturally, and resistant to outside help, but Leia Organa is known in every corner of this galaxy and her name easily buys their way in.

Then, it’s Poe’s charisma and daring plan that gets them to trust that the Resistance can help.  Not to mention the extra hands and firepower that the Resistance brings.  And Rey.

Apparently, news of a new Jedi has spread faster than anyone anticipated.  They take off their hats and hold them to their chest when she walks past.  Rey, of course, is uncomfortable with the reverence and awkwardly nods her head at them.  When they learn that Rey is leading this insurgency into the gaol where the rest of their revolutionaries are being held, it bolsters their resolve to unimaginable heights.  There’s no way they can fail with a Jedi leading them—Poe hears this sentiment echoed throughout their preparations.

The First Order must have thought this would be easy—just a few disgruntled loudmouths in the populace.  The rest would fall back in line and order would be restored.  Luck, or the Force, has brought the Resistance here, to help these people, and deal another defeat to their floundering enemy.

They lead different groups to raid the central government building where the First Order has set their base, and the likely place for the later public executions.   Poe’s group is the one that finds the detention cells where the rebels are being held.

They don’t look much like revolutionaries—not like the Resistance with their old rebel patches, new Resistance stripes, and leftover Republic weapons.  They look like regular people—doctors, shopkeepers, teachers—civilians who had become fed up and decided to do something.  As they’re funneling them out of the cells, leading them in lines through the corridors, Poe spots a woman—dirty, wrapped in equally filthy clothes, eyes swollen from crying, and face bruised from a contested capture.

It’s the red, spiral curls that make him pick her out of the crowd.  She cries and embraces him when he tells her of the baby girl they’d found in an alley nearby.  When Rey catches glimpse of them as they beat their retreat, Poe notices the flash of emotion in the usually stoic mask she wears on missions.  There’s recognition and a bit of relief, but he catches the almost imperceptible note of sadness.

“Thank you,” the woman says, and hugs Rey tightly when they’re back at their base.

Poe has the baby girl in his arms as the woman continues thanking Rey and Leia.  She had hid her daughter when the crackdown on the streets began, thinking she’d be able to get her, or send word to a friend.  Children, she knew, were taken by the First Order and trained to be their soldiers.  There were some of the protest organizers in the gaol, but mostly civilians caught up in the unrest.

He hands the baby off to Rey, one last time, while the woman shakes hands with Leia.  She’s a bit in awe, as anyone is when they meet the famous Princess, Senator, and General.

Poe gives Rey a small, supportive smile.  He figures she’ll be upset to give up the small charge she’s taken on, but there haven’t been any tears, yet.  Rey looks happy to see them reunited.  They’ve grown attached, but she knows this child was never theirs to keep.

“Thank you,” the woman says again as Rey does the final hand off.  Rey lets her fingers linger one final time in the firm baby’s grip, but lets go.

Poe wraps his arm around her shoulders and tucks her in close as mother and child walk away.  He presses his lips to her forehead softly and whispers, “What’s it make you think?  You want one of those one day?”

“No,” she says quietly and it surprises him.  “It makes me think that maybe my mother was trying to keep me safe the only way she knew how, and she just never had the chance to find me again.”

Poe thinks about how tenderly she cared for that child, and the song she tried to hum as she rocked her to sleep.  He squeezes her again and nods.  “I think so, too.”

“What about you?” she asks, teasingly poking him in the ribs.  “Ready for Dameron Jr.?”

Poe considers for a moment.  It’s always been something way off in the distance, but he’s past thirty and still entrenched in this fighting.  Now, that distant life seems even farther away than it was ten years ago.  He chuckles and shakes his head, because still, maybe one day.  “Wouldn’t _that_ be something.”


End file.
